[THE INVESTOR] Sales of imported commercial vehicles jumped 9.8 percent last month from a year earlier as such vehicles gained a bigger market share in Korea, a local automobile association said on June 14.

The number of newly registered imported commercial vehicles jumped to 358 units in May from 326 on growing demand here, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said in a statement.

Local demand for imported trucks, buses and vans is on the rise as those vehicles are more technologically advanced than domestically-produced models. They are viewed as being unrivaled in terms of endurance and maintenance costs, a KAIDA spokeswoman claimed by phone.

In the January-May period, the number of imported commercial cars sold in Korea climbed 8.6 percent to 1,965 units from 1,816 in the same period one year ago, it said.

The five major imported commercial car brands are MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Trucks, Scania and Iveco. The sell trucks, buses and vans, the statement said.